


The law, a child's magic, and their fear

by Arcadian_Skye



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse, Alexandra Carbonell - Freeform, Cody Hyun - Freeform, Freeze fire magic, I have no idea what I'm doing, Modern Fantasy, Panic, The Wax Phoenix Project, Trigger Warnings, mind magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-08 23:48:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12875652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcadian_Skye/pseuds/Arcadian_Skye
Summary: Part 1 of the Wax Phoenix Project short stories (Writing Exercise 1: Magic and Character Introduction). Story is a modern fantasy in the near future. The only information that you need to know is that the first generation of spell casters are called Heralds.All Alex wanted to do was study under the warm sun with a few classmates. However, she takes it upon herself to help a young herald boy when he's hit by his mother. Thankfully, she doesn't have to take care of everything by herself, just most things.





	The law, a child's magic, and their fear

Alexandra’s lips slowly curled into a mockery of a smile. Despite there being no real threat, people were running from the park crying out in fear. A mere child out of control hardly merited this response, but that thought was quickly brushed aside in favor of glaring at her pale classmate. He was curled up and cowering behind the park table, homework left abandoned, and spewing obscenities and slurs towards heralds. She’d be mourning the loss of a calm sunny day if irritation weren’t taking over her mind.

“So the _child_ is a monster, hm? Definitely worthy of your hostility.” The sarcastic words dripped from her lips without thought.

Pushing down her icy rage, she stood and turned to study the scene in the center of the park. A herald boy about fifty feet away was still sitting on the ground near a tree, arms raised in a defensive position between him and his mother. He clearly had no idea his mother had backed up several steps due to his royal purple magic sparking across the grass and air, causing tiny figures where it happened to land upon dry leaves. With a heavy sigh, she briefly turned back to her classmates. She crouched allowing her velvet black hair to fall in her eyes and placed herself so close to his face that her tan skin was almost touching his freckles.

“A child protecting himself from being beaten yet again is clearly demonic and worthy of jail or death,” she scoffed. Alex stood, leaving her classmate behind and taking a few steps in the direction of the poor boy. Now that she was focused on him, she could see that his skin was unnaturally pale, and his hair was a dark, greasy mess. With effort, she drew her own sky blue magic to swirl in her palm while reaching out with her mind magic. His fear was palpable even from this distance, but she needed to know more, needed to know at least roughly what he was thinking in order to best soothe him. She pushed out her magic again, enough to pick up his panic attack as he mentally screamed _“No no NO! Not again, not again. I can’t. I can’t. I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry.”_ Her heart picked up in pace, mimicking his panic, and she briefly feared another herald of mind picking up her listening. She shoved it aside with the reassurance that mind heralds are few and far between. This poor dirty blonde boy was going to end up in some government facility if she couldn’t calm him as per the recently passed herald containment laws. He didn’t deserve that. No one did, especially a child.

As she stepped closer, the made sure to reign in her magic enough to be nearly invisible as she slowly held out her hands to her sides, palms wide in a placating gesture. The boy might be able to sense magic, and she didn’t want to risk triggering more panic even if her magic might be able to calm him down faster than words. He might be able to pick up on and resist magical manipulation anyway. Once she was within about ten feet, close enough to feel his magic flicker against her skin on occasion, she knelt down on one knee.

“Hey kid. It’s okay. You’re safe for now. No one wants to hurt you,” she paused. “Is it okay if I get closer?” she raised her voice above the din so the child could hear her but tried to retain a soothing note. She firmly ignored the redheaded mother glaring daggers at her to avoid drawing the child’s attention to her. He slowly lowered his arms just enough that she could see his tear-streaked face, his eyes still blown wide in fear, the purple magic still flaring bright in his eyes. He stared at her for what felt like a few minutes before he curled his arms around his stomach and nodded his head minisculely. She stayed low as she walked toward him slowly and came to sit on her heels within about two feet of him. She distantly acknowledged the sirens in the distance and did her best to keep the worry from her face. This needed to get under control quickly.

Keeping her voice gentle and soft, she tried to help ground him. “Do you know where you are?”

He answered in a small, quavering voice. “Ye… yes… I think.”

“Can you tell me please?”

“I… uhm… E… Edgerton Park, right?”

His fearful stutters tugged at her heart in a way she couldn’t identify, but she continued nonetheless. She could discern her own emotions later. “Yes! Thank you. That really helps me. Could you tell me what time of year it is?”

“It’s… uhm… fall right?” This time his eyes flickered briefly to the colorful leaves on the grass surrounding him. Excellent. He was slowly beginning to return to reality and notice the situation around him.

“Are you okay? Would you like a hug?” Alex tried. The sirens were getting closer, and if he didn’t stop crying before the authorities arrived, he would be labeled as another uncontrollable piece of the supposed herald plague on Earth.

His eyes widened again briefly as if the idea of physical affection was unusual, unheard of even. Alex hastened to correct herself.

“Only if you want to, of course. I know hugs make me feel better.” She offered a small smile, trying to act embarrassed to further draw his attention away from his fear. When she opened her arms in an inviting gesture, the mother broke from whatever emotion caused her daze and started to move toward them. Alex subtly moved between the child and the woman clad in heels and a mini-skirt. She wanted to protect him, help him understand he was being protected, but without moving so fast as to scare him.

Looking beyond the mother, she realized that police were arriving covered in combat gear. She mentally sneered, as if the small boy was some terrorist! She cursed under her breath. It didn’t look like the mother hit the boy hard enough to leave a bruise, so convincing the police that the boy had reacted out of fearful self-defense would be difficult. She had to do something. Coming quickly to a decision, she specifically made eye contact with the mother and trusted her blue contacts to hide the cerulean from her eyes. She closed her hands to hide her own magic swirl, hoping that the still sparking purple magic would keep anyone from noticing what was emanating from her own palms. If the mother didn’t notice her magic, she couldn’t claim Alex caused the reaction she was about to inflict.

She pulled up her icy rage from earlier and willed it as best she could in the direction of the mom. She hadn’t played with her magic enough to be good at this, but she trusted her intuition to do what needed to be done. The effect was instantaneous. The mother went from wary contempt to seething hatred within seconds, and she started snarling every insult she knew at Alex and her own kid. She drew close, pulling Alex up by the collar of her shirt and practically spit in her face as she continued spewing some sort of vitriol. Alexandra didn’t care at that point. The boy was safe behind her, and she could see the police approaching them with their guns drawn. She hid her own smug satisfaction, did her best to put on some mask of confused fear, and poured another wave of rage into the woman that was inches from her face. The mother pulled a fist back and struck Alex in the face. Stunned, she briefly noted she had miscalculated the mother’s strength and briefly wondered if her nose was broken or not. It didn’t matter. The police were now focused on the mother.

Alex shut down her magic and did her best to ignore the faint burn in her fingertips. She wasn’t done yet. The boy was still anxiously, subconsciously throwing out magic. The police would still consider him a threat, and they were within ten feet now. Her mind raced with options. The average individual wouldn’t turn their back on someone who just hit them, but she needed to calm down the boy. She had never cast magic without looking where she was casting before, and her worry was compounded by the fact that she still didn’t know if he could sense her emotional manipulation. She cursed. She was taking too long to decide; the police were getting close enough that his magic might burn them. No matter how small the burn might be, it would still be considered attacking a police officer.

Thoughts racing, she made up her mind. She might regret this later, but the boy was worth a possible migraine and burnt fingers. Hiding her hands behind her back and blood still dripping from her nose, she started pulling on whatever soothing feelings she could muster. She cursed as she felt more panicky thoughts rise out of the boy. He had clearly noticed her hands; she wasn’t good enough to hide the blue rising up her fingers like tiny flames. She tried to push down her rising panic. Her attempt at comforting emotions wasn’t going to be enough. Without even thinking, she collected what magic she knew how to draw upon in that moment and threw it behind a thought projection. She had never really succeeded at this before, had only ever tried with her best friend Cody, but she tried nonetheless.

_“I’m just like you, a herald like you. My magic is different, but the same. I will do whatever I can to help you, but I need you to calm down.”_ Throwing that thought at him, she also tried to muster more peace in his direction. She felt recognition flare in the boy and a wave of relief roll out from him quickly thereafter. The sparks died immediately, even disappeared from his finger tips, and only showed in his eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief as she let the spell go and ignored the quickly developing headache.

The cast felt like minutes, but it was only a few seconds. The police had just reached the mother and started to restrain her. Alex spared a quick glimpse behind her at the boy, and the unabashed smile on the boy’s face almost startled her. That too pulled at emotions in her she couldn’t identify, but she again pushed it down to study later. Alex redirected her attention to the police who had approached her and the child.

“It’s okay. He’s okay. The mom hit him; I saw it with my own eyes. No one was hurt other than him,” Alex tried to reassure the policeman. To emphasize her point, she turned around and motioned at the boy to come hold her hand. It was only to show her trust in him and to keep him safe by her side, but her heart warmed when he flounced up next to her nonetheless.

The younger police officer was studying her up and down. His eyes were a dark brown, and his light brown hair just stuck out from under his hat. Alex briefly noted that he was fit, probably too much for her to take in a fight. Not that she was planning on attacking an officer in any way, but she was on edge enough that it compounded her worry.

“Are you sure? We got plenty of calls that an angry herald was setting fire to the park,” the officer responded with a suspicious tone. He glanced briefly from Alex to the boy and back again.

“I am positive. He was just scared after his mom hit him. There was never any fire, just a spark here or there,” Alexandra answered in a carefully controlled, soft tone, doing her best to appear unthreatening and innocent. She wasn’t innocent of course, but she needed to manipulate the officer into thinking she was.

He huffed, “You know him?”

“No, but I couldn’t just leave an abused child alone to get hurt again.”

Sighing, the officer gave her a measured look and glanced briefly back to the boy, “I need you to go to the station to testify.”

“Of course. Whatever I can do to help.” Alex replied, offering a small smile.

“Alright, follow me.”

She moved to follow the officer, but when she let go of the boy’s hand, he grabbed her wrist tight. Surprised, Alex turned back to the boy.

“I… I don’t want to be left alone. Take me with you? Please?” the boy pleaded, his eyes beginning to water again.

Having heard the boy, the officer turned back around and glanced at Alex.

“Do you mind? He seems attached to you. It shouldn’t be a problem at the precinct as long as someone has their eye on him”

Alex shrugged and grabbed hold of the boy’s hand properly. The boy moved as close as possible to her side and smiled up at her. With a breathy chuckle escaping her lips, she smiled back and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

*****

Hours later, after writing down a witness account and verbally telling her story several times (omitting her own magic obviously), she was absolutely exhausted magically, emotionally, and physically. Being around police officers, she couldn’t act like her fingers burned, so she was doing her best to dull the pain via a spell without showing it on her hands. That would be a dead giveaway of her herald status, and she couldn’t risk it. When she started getting light sensitive though, the officers gave her an understanding look and let her sit on a couch in a dimly lit, white-walled room with the boy while an officer finished up some paperwork. The boy never spoke up much the entire time but verbally admitted to physical abuse at home. He curled up against her side and worked on writing everything he could think of that might be important despite the dim light. He absolutely refused to leave her side. It was only after she wrote down her name and phone number for him that he shyly admitted his name was Joseph. He quickly followed with a bit more pride that he was six years old.

 

“So… what happens now?” Joseph questioned quietly, fiddling with the pen in his hand.

“I think you’ll have to stay here a bit. Some nice people called DCFS will probably come eventually and take you somewhere safe,” she mumbled around her hands on her face which did little protect her migraine from the seemingly harsh light in the dim room.

“Oh… so… will I get a daddy now? Can you be my mommy?”

Alex laughed softly, “I’m not qualified to be a mommy Joey, but I can do my best to stay in contact. Be friends.”

“Joey?”

“Everyone gets a nickname eventually, especially people I like”

Joseph blushed and looked down, fiddling with the pen some more. Eventually he looked back up and asked, “Can you… will you… teach me?”

Alex lowered her hands and studied Joseph’s face for a long moment. Eventually, she muttered, “I’m no good as a teacher kid. I barely know what I’m doing as is.”

“Then we can learn together!”

Alex barked a surprised laugh in return and quickly regretted the loud noise. Softly she answered, “Yah, sure. Maybe sometime we can get together and figure out this nonsense together, yah?”

“Yah! Definitely!”

She smiled at his enthusiasm. Suddenly the door to the room opened, and she hissed against the sudden light.

“Oh, sorry. I figured I could haul myself across town to give you a ride.”

Cody. She recognised that voice anywhere.

“She asked for a ride?” Joey asked quizzically.

“I texted him a while ago,” she absently answered while she looked up at Cody, meeting his naturally blue eyes. She noted that his black hair was messy, and his slightly round jaw had a bit of stubble. Apparently he got out of bed to pick her up. Alex glanced at the clock on the bland wall and realized it was just after midnight. She’s not sure how or when it got so late.

“Do you have to go?”

Alex looked back at Joey, kneeled, and hugged him tight. She explained as gently as possible, “Yes. I need to get some rest. And honestly you do too. You’ll be okay, I promise. These people will take good care of you.”

His face fell and his eyes watered, but he appeared to understand. Behind her Cody sighed.

“Well I brought one of Alex’s jackets, since it’s the middle of the night in autumn. I imagine she’d probably be okay with you ha…” Before Cody could finish his sentence, Alex turned around, grabbed the yellow hoodie from his hands, and turned back to hand it to Joey. The jacket didn’t mean much to her, but she knew it would mean everything to the boy.

“You ever feel lonely, just wrap up in this and remember there are others out there like you. Like us. And you can call me anytime,” she reassured him as she kneeled and tugged the jacket into place around his shoulders. It was obviously too large, but he quickly wrapped it as tight as possible around himself, his tears flowing openly now. She started to get back up, but he surprised her by quickly wrapping his arms around her. She hugged him tight in return and held him until he moved to let go, specifically giving him as long as he needed. When he did let go and backed up, he was clearly struggling to say something, stuttering over himself before he could get a single word out. He just couldn’t figure out how to word his thoughts and emotions.

She looked at him and very slowly held a few fingers to his chin. She studied his eyes and figured one more time couldn’t hurt her much more than she already does.

“Need some help?” she offered, studying his face carefully for what he wanted. He nodded once, slowly, tears still flowing freely. As gently as she could, she reached out to touch his mind. Instantly she was overwhelmed with a plethora of emotions. Longing for a home, gratitude for Alex’s affection, a deep pit of unfulfilled love, and fear of the future all welled up inside and spilled over in waves. Hopefully he picked up on her acceptance of him in return. When she let go, she distantly realized she was crying now too. She smiled sadly and kissed his forehead before standing up. Thinking that everything was conveyed that needed to be conveyed, she offered him one more brighter, more genuine smile before stepping into the hall where Cody was waiting and shut the door.

“I didn’t realize you left the room,” she squinted at him as she started down the white hallway, wiping her tears.

He grabbed her by the elbow and scolded her light-heartedly, “Close your eyes before you fall over from pain you idiot. And it didn’t seem like my place to watch that. Didn’t want any officers walking in on the color display either”

She obediently closed her eyes and covered them with her unoccupied hand, allowing him to lead her blindly. “Thanks,” she sighed and relaxed just a bit.

“No problem. You need to stop adopting strays though.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“For all of your analytical insight, you’re still an idiot.”

“You wouldn’t have me any other way.”

“I suppose not.”

She felt the transition from stale air, to the cool gentle breeze outside. She sighed and braved a quick glance at his face. “I couldn’t just… I mean… heralds have it hard enough as is. And he’s just a kid.”

“I get it. Just don’t forget to take care of yourself.”

She smirked, “That’s what I have you for.”

He huffed a laugh at that, and she heard him open a car door. She looked briefly around the parking lot and then looked up to study the night sky. After a moment, she sat down in his dark blue, rusted sedan and quietly closed the door. She shared a brief look with Cody, smiled, relaxed even more, and lied back. She was asleep before the fifteen minute drive was done, and Cody’s fond smile stayed in place the entire ride.

*****

The next day in class, she ran into the classmate from the day before. She resolutely decided his name wasn’t worth remembering but his face was, so she never had to work with him again. Her university is large enough that it shouldn’t be a problem. When she shot him the darkest, most murderous glare she could manage, he had the good grace to flinch. That was enough to satisfy her anger with all the herald focused prejudice for the time being.

**Author's Note:**

> Alex isn't really designed to be a likable character at this point. She's supposed to come off as manipulative, cold, and calculated, but still vaguely likable. She's clearly not heartless and desires to do the right thing, but she hasn't figured out how to let herself be emotional.
> 
> I know this first story is really stiff. I was still fleshing out the style I wanted for the book.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated but flames are not. I want to get better, but I'm still pretty sensitive about these characters and concepts.


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